


Taking It Slow

by Ikkleosu



Category: Car Share - Fandom, Peter Kay's Car Share (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-15 13:58:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14791838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ikkleosu/pseuds/Ikkleosu
Summary: Post Finale short fic.





	Taking It Slow

They didn’t have a plan when they got on the bus. They didn’t have much of anything quite frankly. No patience, no accord, no love lost, and no working mode of transport. So discussing exactly what they were doing and where they were going wasn’t high on their priorities. In fact there wasn’t much discussion happening about anything, not after the conversations with the police and car insurance. John was a ball of barely contained incandescent rage, while Kayleigh was baffled and apologetic. She tried her best to explain, and the sniggers from both police and insurers on her explanation only added confusion to John’s feelings - was he relieved they were seeing the ridiculous side of how it had all unfolded, or angry they were laughing at Kayleigh’s utterly earnest belief that the life of a hedgehog was totally worth all this chaos? 

He had no idea what his feelings were, and he squashed them all down into a leaden emotional brick that weighed him down until the moment Kayleigh handed him the earphone. Then it was all clear again, as it always was. Kayleigh was right, of course it was worth all the chaos. She was worth the chaos. Just the touch of her hand and the sight of her smile made this - and a million other catastrophes he could imagine would come his way - all worth it, to be sitting there holding her hand. He’d known it absolutely when he’d written the song last night, and he knew it a million times stronger when she laid her head on his shoulder.

Still, that didn’t answer the question of what literally they were going to do. After the third play through of his own song, John took the earbud out and addressed the situation.

“I’ll stay on the bus with you, see you to yours and then get the bus back to mine once you’re home safe… maybe by then the insurance will have got back to me about a replacement car.”

Kayleigh took her own earphone out halfway through his sentence, and her face read a mixture of guilt and embarrassment. “I’m so sorry John… I really am…”

John looked into her eyes for the first time since it had all literally come crashing down around them. “I know, it’s okay. It’ll be covered by insurance, I might get a nice new car out of it.”

Squeezing Kayleigh’s hand reassuringly, he saw her look down at their interlaced fingers and smile to herself. He couldn’t quite believe it himself, yet there it was. He suspected that the thrill he got from making her smile with a such a simple gesture was not one he’d grow tired of easily. Smiling proudly to himself, he wondered if people on the bus might look at him and wonder how he landed such a stunner like Kayleigh. Not that he had any answers himself, but he was over the moon that he had and the new-found assurance of that was something he enjoyed rolling around his mind.

“It’s okay though, John, you don’t have to. I’ll be fine on my own, I’m a grown woman.”

John scoffed at that, resulting in a playful nudge from Kayleigh. “No, honestly, I’d be happier,” he said.

Kayleigh looked thoughtful for a moment. “It just seems daft you coming all that way, just to go all the way back… Oh I know! I’ll take you home in Mandy’s Citreon!” She looked delighted with her suggestion and nodded encouragingly. 

“No, honestly it’s fine…” 

“Come on, it’s the least I can do. Don’t you trust my driving or something?” Kayleigh tilted her head sideways and looked at him accusingly.

John gave a chuckle.. “No, no… just don’t be trying to save any wildlife on the way home!”

“Promise!” Kayleigh said, crossing her heart seriously. 

“And remember if it’s diesel or petrol!”

“Pfft! It’s diesel, you’ll never let me forget that… oh no wait, that’s your car… what’s Our Mandy’s? I think that’s petrol… no, maybe it’s not… I’ll check.”

John raised his eyebrows and looked away shaking his head. 

The sun was waning by the time they got off the bus and walked hand-in-hand down the street to Mandy’s. 

“Christ! What’s this?!” Steve exclaimed as they walked towards the drive. He stood up from behind his bike and waggled his spanner in their direction. “Is this what that Milk Tray Man act this morning was all about? And her mood yesterday?” He pointed at their joined hands as he talked, and John looked bashful whilst Kayleigh beamed.

“None of your beeswax!” Kayleigh said, tapping the side of her nose. She led John by the hand up the drive, clearly enjoying putting on the show for Steve. “I’ll be right out, I’ll just get the keys from Mandy, make sure it’s okay,” she said to John finally letting go his hand and disappearing into the house. 

John stood looking after her wistfully for a moment before Steve interjected. 

“Well?”

John shrugged in exaggerated nonchalance that made Steve guffaw. 

“So it’s official is it?”

“Yeah… I guess…. I guess you could say that.” He suspected Steve knew how uncomfortable he was talking about this kind of thing, and that was the attraction. “Anyway… haven’t you noticed anything?” John spread his arms to show his standing status.

“Eh? You mean apart from the pair of you looking like a couple of love sick teenagers? Wait… I never looked, you didn’t propose did you?” 

“No, I did not!” John nearly choked rushing out his response. “No CAR!”

Steve raised his arms in wonder. “Jesus! No… where is it?” 

“Scrappers by now I’d wager.” John shoved his hands in his pockets now they didn’t have Kayleigh attached to them. 

“Christ, what happened? You have an accident?”

“You could say that…” John nodded towards the house. 

Steve followed his nod and took a second to register what he meant. “Oh Jesus.... What did she do?” 

“Took it upon herself to rescue a hedgehog in the middle of two lanes of traffic…” He said with an odd kind of pride in his voice.

Steve buried his head in his hand in response. 

“Two car pile up, then some arsehole ripped me door off without stopping… thankfully the hit and run element distracted the bobbies from the cause of the pile up in the first place,” John continued as Steve looked on, horrified.

“Anyone hurt?”

“Nope.” John shook his head. “Not even the hedgehog.”

“For the love of… and you’re here all dopey smiles and hand holding? I’d be screaming bloody murder if that was Mandy.”

John just shrugged again and smiled the same idiotic smile he’d had all day since Kayleigh had got back in the car. He couldn’t explain it; couldn’t explain how she’d changed absolutely everything in his world. She could turn his life upside down, and round again, and he’d just be smiling like this because she loved him. And he loved her, though that was still a notion he was wrestling with. It kept threatening to burst out of his mouth, and his brain would quash it. Be sensible, be sane, she could change her mind any minute. Yet still the phrase kept running round and round his mind.

“Well, in that case you’re both as mad as each other, and good luck to you,” Steve said with a laugh. 

Inquisition over, John relayed his phone call with the insurers and the plan that Kayleigh was going to drive him home, before they returned to the safe topic of the bike. Steve was just showing John that he had put a new piston on when the door opened and Kayleigh appeared again.

She’d changed into a pair of skinny jeans, white t-shirt and canvas shoes and was shrugging her denim jacket on as she pulled the door to.

John did a double take. “Eh? You were only gone two minutes, what’d you get changed for?”

“I was all bus germs, John,” Kayleigh said screwing up her face. 

“Full change you can do in two minutes, but you’ve had me sitting out here 15 minutes while you found a shoe last week!” John complained, as he stood up from his crouching position beside the bike.

“Come on.” Kayleigh jerked her head towards the road, ignoring his comment. “Mandy says it’s fine, as long as I put PETROL in.” 

“See ya then!” Steve called as Kayleigh led John across the road to where Mandy’s car was parked. 

John gave him a wave before getting in the passenger seat.

“What did Steve say?” Kayleigh said as she adjusted her seat and the rearview mirror.

“Not much,” John answered truthfully.

“I told Mandy.”

“About the car?”

“No!... oh well yeah I did, but I mean about us.” Kayleigh flashed him a grin. “Is that okay?”

“I guess so…” John hesitated. He wanted to ask what she’d said, what “us” meant, but somehow even asking that seemed churlish. And he relived the horrific way the conversation had unfolded just twenty-four hours earlier when Kayleigh asked that question. “Us” terrified and exhilarated him all at once, twenty-four hours hadn’t changed that. Although now he was getting more used to it, and falling more and more into the exhilarated side.

“I didn’t tell her everything… I just said we had talked, you’d said some lovely things…” Kayleigh paused for a moment to grin at that, before continuing. “And we were taking things slowly, and that was all.”

John nodded approvingly. “You didn’t tell her about the song?”

“No, no I didn’t… but John you can’t write something that GORGEOUS for me and expect me not to tell anyone!” Kayleigh pleaded, laughing.  
John pointed a warning finger at her. “I told you, that’s just for you. That’s not for public consumption.”

“Okay… okay… but can I at least TELL Mandy about it? Just tell her some of the words… I promise I won’t let her hear it, not if you don’t want me to.”

“I don’t!” John sighed with resignation. “Okay you can TELL her, but that’s it… that tape is only for your ears.”

Kayleigh bounced excitedly in her seat. “I know… I know… I won’t… I just have to tell her, I have to explain to her why it’s all okay, why we’re fine now. She knows why I was upset last night…”

John shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Oh right…”

Kayleigh placed a comforting hand on his thigh. “See? I need to tell her how amazing you are, how you made the BEST thing I’ve ever had in my life… and the things you said in it that made it all okay.” She gave him a quick look. “More than okay.”

John felt himself blushing again. He was clearly going to have to get a grip of that if he was going to keep this hidden from anyone at work. At the moment, any time Kayleigh smiled in his direction he left like his face was lighting up like a traffic light. 

The heartache and pain he’d gone through last night, pouring himself into the song and praying, hoping she’d even listen to it, let alone like it and understand… he couldn’t quite believe they were where they were.

“I’m glad you liked it.”

“Come back my car share buddy, I won’t give up on us…” Kayleigh sang, swaying her head side to side. “Oh look, you’re my car share buddy now, so I can sing it to you…”

“Please don’t!” John joked, earning a smack on the arm from Kayleigh.

“You know, John,” Kayleigh said matter of factly, “that’s a very powerful tool you have there. You could do anything, and then write me a song saying how sorry you are, and I’d forgive you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah! Honestly, I felt it here…” She patted her chest over her heart. “And other places…”

John rolled his eyes and ignored her. “So I could do anything? Shag Rachel then write a song saying I’d just slipped and fell into bed with her, and anyway she was a bit shit between the sheets, and all is forgiven? Good to know!” 

Kayleigh squinted her eyes and clenched her jaw. “John Redmond, you are on thin ice…”

“I’m kidding! I told you, I’m not interested in Rachel. She’s not my type.”

Kayleigh relaxed her posture. “Uh-huh, and what is your type?”

“Insane, gorgeous redheads who make me laugh.” John reached over and gave Kayleigh’s hand a quick squeeze on the wheel, as she gave him an adoring look. 

She gave a little emotional sniff before speaking. “Well anyway, you should just think of all the money you’ll save. Any time you’re in the dog house, you don’t have to buy me a pair of £200 shoes, just write me a song.”

“Aye, well, when you put it like that…” John said with an approving nod. “But don’t you EVER tell anyone at work, I’d never live that down.”

“I wouldn’t do that John, not with that bunch of vultures! They’d throw you under a bus soon as look at you. No, that’s for me and you.”

John shook his head. It was a bit rich considering the conversations they’d had about half the store, but still, he wasn’t going to question Kayleigh keeping schtum on things.

“They will start to wonder though… I mean if we carry on…” Kayleigh suddenly sounded nervous. 

“Let them!” John replied with a confidence, that surprised even himself. The slightest hint that Kayleigh doubted his feelings for her made his heart lurch. “None of their business what we do outside of work hours.”

“What about inside work hours?” Kayleigh’s voice had returned to a mischievous light tone that pleased John.

“No! Talk about pushing your luck...”

Kayleigh giggled. “You can’t blame a girl for trying.”

By the time they reached John’s house, with some chaotic directions by John and misdirections by Kayleigh, it was dark and damp.

As Kayleigh parked the car outside John’s house she strained her neck to get a look at it in the streetlight gloom, while nerves suddenly ran rampant round John’s body.

He hadn’t thought about this aspect, hadn’t even occurred to him this would come up - and certainly not so soon.

“So this is your house?” Kayleigh said still straining. “It looks nice.”

John rubbed his neck anxiously. “Uh I’d invite you in but…”

Kayleigh smiled at him, her face soft and loving. “It’s okay John, don’t worry I’m not expecting anything. That’s not why I offered to drive you. I know, we’re taking things slow… I understand, honestly.”

John sighed and felt the weight of the world lift from his shoulders. If he told Jim or anyone, they’d say he was off his head. Turning down a sexy woman who fancies you, for what exactly? Cos you’re “not ready”. He felt like a 14 year old girl. But he wasn’t ready. He knew he wasn’t, and the past twenty-four hours had certainly shown that. He had a lot to work through with himself.

“I just…” he started to explain, but didn’t know exactly what he was going to say. “I just want to be sure… you know? I don’t want to make a mistake.”

“Charming!” Kayleigh laughed, as John looked momentarily horrified at how that had come out. “Relax, John, I said it’s fine. I understand. I’m not going to try and rip your clothes off. I do have some restraint.”

John looked at her skeptically, and they both laughed. “I said SOME!” Kayleigh continued.

“Are you sure?” John frowned with worry. He hated the idea of any kind of repetition of yesterday, of making her feel rejected and unloved. “You don’t hate me?” He winced in preparation for her answer.

“Don’t be daft!” Kayleigh gave his arm another playful slap. “I told you, I love you.” She suddenly pulled a face and winced herself on realising what she’d said. “Shit, sorry, that’s not helping matters is it?”

“No.” John shook his head and laughed again. This really was going smoothly.

“Look, I totally get it,” Kayleigh began. “And I understand why you don’t want me to come in, and I SWEAR this isn’t a ruse to get past you, but could I just come in to use your loo? I’m bursting! And I promise I’ll go straight away.” She held up her hand in pledge.

“Oh for Christ’s sake, go on then… don’t want you shitting on my doorstep.”

Kayleigh pulled a face. “I only need a wee.”

“Too much information!” John said, holding up his hand. “Come on then…”

He sighed as he got out the car and fished out his front door key, all the time fighting a battle in his head. Well, partly in his head. Other parts of him were screaming this was a perfect opportunity, she was there, in his house, go for it, why wait, you know how you feel! Whilst his head was telling him to cool his jets and replaying some of his classic hits of disastrous romantic interludes as evidence. “It’s top of the stairs,” he said pointing Kayleigh in the right direction. “And no looking in any of the other rooms!” He called after her as she bounded up the stairs.

“I won’t!” she called as she slammed the bathroom door shut.

John stood at the bottom of the stairs for a moment, then wondered if he’d be able to hear anything then panicked a bit, closed the front door and paced back and forth in his sitting room. The battle raged on inside him. Really, the fact he was a bundle of nerves answered the debate before it began. He couldn’t do anything in this state but be a disappointment, that was for sure. But still there was a part of him considered it. Be that impulsive man you want to be! Sweep her off her feet and take her to bed and think about taking it slowly after that. 

He hooked his finger in his collar and loosened his tie. He couldn’t do it, he knew he couldn’t do it. Apart from anything else, she deserved better than that. She deserved him being totally sure in what he was doing, in more ways than one. And she deserved to be treated right, for it to be planned and not just some opportunistic grab-it-while-you-can moment. When it happened, he wanted her to know how much he wanted it to, and how much it meant to him.

God, he could never tell Jim any of this. A big girls’ blouse would probably be the most PC insult he’d fling at him.

Just at that moment, he heard the toilet flush and the light go off. He walked back out into the lobby and watched up the stairs. 

“Why didn’t you want me to look in the other rooms? Is your wife in one of them?” Kayleigh said as she descended the stairs.

“Ha bloody ha.” 

She grinned at her own joke, as she stood on the bottom step, her hand on the bannister. “Okay, well I better get back home…”

“You sure you know the way?” 

“I’ll be fine, John, shush!” Kayleigh patted his shoulder, as she was equal heights with him from her vantage spot.

Suddenly the air fell heavy with tension, and John felt hideously awkward.

“Okay, well, night then…” Kayleigh leaned forward with her hand on his shoulder and kissed his cheek. She pulled back and smiled, then hopped off the bottom step and opened the front door. “But you’ll let me know about tomorrow, if I have to get the bus again or not?” 

“As soon as I know, you’ll know.” John looked at her standing in the hall light with the dark, wet evening behind her, and had an overwhelming urge to wrap her up and keep her safe in his house, and in his arms. He took a deep breath. “Kayleigh…”

He reached for her hand and intertwined their fingers, giving her a little tug back towards him. She looked down at their hands then up at him with surprise but took a step so they were face to face. He took her other hand and held that too. For a moment they just stood, searching each other’s faces, smiling softly. And then John leaned in and slowly, softly kissed her lips. It was a short, tender kiss, but one that sent electricity down his spine. 

He pulled away and Kayleigh took a huge breath, like she’d been holding it for minutes. She kept her eyes closed as though she was savouring the kiss, memorizing it. Before she opened them, John leaned in and met her mouth again. This time he relaxed into it, and Kayleigh did too. She let go his hands and put a hand on his face, the other coming to rest on his chest. He lost a hand in her hair, as their lips parted and came together in what could only be described as an epic snog. 

After a minute or two, Kayleigh pulled her head away and giggled. “John Redmond!” she said admonishingly. “Talk about giving a girl mixed signals! Tell her not to come into your house then kiss her socks off!”

John blushed both from the kiss, and from the compliment in her words. “Sorry.”

“I’m not!” Kayleigh smiled and waggled her eyebrows at him until he chuckled. “But we’re still taking it slow?” She squinted her eyes in exaggerated suspicion.

“Yes!” John replied with mock exasperation. 

“Just checking!” Kayleigh patted his chest and pushed herself away. “Well, sweet dreams. See you tomorrow!” she said as she went outside and closed the door behind her.

He knew with an insane, gorgeous redhead who makes him laugh and kisses him like he's Brad Pitt by his side, sweet dreams were exactly what he'd have.


End file.
